Greater Kuala Lumpur property outlook bright

PETALING JAYA: In Greater Kuala Lumpur, the residential and commercial property markets are expected to see healthy growth, while the region’s industrial property markets will likely lag behind in terms of new supply this year, says property consultant CBRE Group.

In its latest MarketView report, CBRE said new residential project launches, albeit coming up at a slower pace than last year, were expected to increase the total existing supply of residential properties at about 1.79 million units in Greater KL, which encompasses Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya.

“Anecdotal evidence shows that some developers have been putting on hold some projects since the beginning of the year.

“But this may somehow lead to an increase in demand in the near future and further drive activity once launches resume,” it added.

CBRE said it expected to see greater interest in both the primary and secondary residential property markets, especially for units in good locations, in 2014. It, however, noted that a recent survey had shown that most Malaysians (68%) were not willing to spend more than RM500,000 for a property.

Meanwhile, in the commercial property space, CBRE said that Greater KL should see 6.1 million sq ft of new office space and 3.6 million sq ft of retail space added to the market by end-2014.

The office space additions would be supported by the completion of significant projects such as IB Tower and Menara Hap Seng 2, while new retail space would come from the 12 malls scheduled for completion this year such as IOI City Mall, Atria Shopping Gallery and Encorp Strand Mall.

On the hospitality front, an additional 401 rooms from new hotels such as Allson Capital Hotel and Holiday Villa were expected to add to the existing stock of 27,162 rooms in Greater KL, while 1,040 serviced apartments would be added to the existing stock of 6,196 units by the end of 2014, thanks to the completion of three new developments, including The One @ Bukit Ceylon and Fraser Residence.

Total Greater KL office space supply

The industrial property segment, on the other hand, was expected to continue seeing negligible growth in new supply, a trend observed since 2011.

As for the rental market in Greater KL, CBRE said office space and industrial properties would likely see improvement in rates, while rates for retail and residential spaces would likely remain muted this year.

In the first quarter of 2014, the average rental rates per sq ft for office space stood at RM7.64, up slightly from RM7.61 in the preceding quarter, while that for industrial space stood at RM1.62.

In the first quarter of 2014, prime rents for retail space remained unchanged since the second quarter of 2013 at RM55 per sq ft and RM31 per sq ft in KL suburban areas.

Average monthly rentals in the KL city centre were RM3.96 per sq ft, while the monthly rents in Bangsar and Mont’Kiara stood at RM3.27 per sq ft and RM2.93 per sq ft during the first quarter of the year.